New police commissioner pledges ‘laser-like focus’ on Jewish safety

Incoming NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon has pledged “a laser-like focus on ensuring social cohesion and making sure the Jewish community feels safe” as he takes on the state’s top police job.

Lanyon told The Australian that social cohesion was “absolutely right at the top of my priorities and as part of this process to actually win the job, it’s been one of the core things that I’ve said that I want to elevate”.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip welcomed Lanyon’s appointment as the state’s 24th police commissioner.

“We welcome Mr Lanyon’s appointment as NSW Police Commissioner and offer our congratulations to him,” Ossip said. “The incoming commissioner has a strong track record of close collaboration with our community, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with him.

“It was heartening to hear him commit, in his first press conference alongside the Premier, to making social cohesion and Jewish safety a priority.”

The new commissioner pointed to his establishment of Operation Shelter, a NSW Police Force strategy launched in October 2023 to prevent antisemitic attacks in Sydney following Hamas attacks on Israel.

“We did a lot of high visibility policing over in the eastern suburbs to make sure that their police were seen, to give that reassurance fact, because one of the things that concerns me with the community is we don’t want children living in that sort of fear, we don’t want them thinking that this is what’s acceptable,” Lanyon told The Australian.

The operation was launched following demonstrations at the Sydney Opera House two days after the October 7 Hamas attacks, where protesters lit flares, burned Israeli flags and chanted slogans that prompted investigation.

Lanyon was at the centre of controversy over claims that pro-Palestinian protesters had chanted “gas the Jews” at the Opera House. After sending video for acoustic and phonetic analysis, Lanyon said no evidence was found that the phrase was used, but that some in the mob had yelled “Where are the Jews?”

“At no time did I downplay, at no time did the police downplay, the provocative nature of the words, whatever the first word was in that slogan, and I think you’ll always have my support on that,” Lanyon said.

In the immediate aftermath of the Opera House scenes in October 2023, then-Deputy Police Commissioner Lanyon attended Sydney’s Emanuel Synagogue to join the Shabbat evening service alongside Police Minister Yasmin Catley.

“We have a very long history of working closely with the Jewish community to ensure safety in NSW. Daily, we work with the CSG and also the Board of Deputies just to make sure that we understand what’s happening within the Jewish community,” Lanyon said at the time.

He emphasised the visible police presence following the Opera House incident: “What I would like to think the community are seeing is a much more visible presence. One of the messages that I would make really clear, NSW is a safe place.”

The Operation Shelter strategy coordinated high-visibility policing operations at protest activity and oversaw Strike Force Mealing, which investigated potential offences committed at demonstrations.

Following the Opera House protests, three men were charged after allegedly performing Nazi salutes outside the Sydney Jewish Museum in Darlinghurst, while another man faced court after allegedly threatening four teenagers in Bellevue Hill.

Lanyon called these incidents “completely unacceptable” but expressed hope that the community would “have great confidence in how quickly the police have responded and the decisive action that has been taken”.